Making it on their own

Entrepreneurs have always found enough market in Bangalore, which is why most small as well as big business ventures thrive in the City. Interestingly, even entrepreneurs with an art background have started to float their own ventures. There are quite a few who are experimenting with their workshops and small stores.

Zeshan, who has started his leather boutique, ‘TLB’, pursued a diploma in leather processing and later decided to open his own store.

“I learnt leather processing and designing and that pushed me to be creative. Later, I realised that I wanted to take this up as a profession. I got a lot more involved with the designs, colours accessories and bags. It has been a learning curve for me. India has many design schools and every year, many design students are graduating. However, there are not enough opportunities for all of them. Quite a few of them have started their own stores and small business ventures,” he notes. Though competition is tough, he asserts that people who buy from his store always come back.

For Gauri Spratt, it is all about creative expression. That is why she decided to branch out and start her own business venture, despite having degrees in textile and fashion designing.
“When you are a creative person, you want to be satisfied with what you are doing. A corporate or a structured set up will perhaps never be able to give you that kind of freedom. Moreover, you can never put an artist’s thoughts and ideas in a box and ask him or her to work according to the whims of others. This is why I decided to start my own small workshop. I make handmade soaps and everything from making the solution to setting it in different kinds of moulds and adding colour and fragrance are done by me. My small workshop-cum-studio is based in Whitefield. Right now, word-of-mouth publicity works for me,” she informs.

There are many young design students and artists in the City, who have decided to ditch the corporate lifestyle. Akshay, an artist, says that the job market is quite saturated and there is a lack of options for fresh design graduates.

 “There were hardly any options for freshers like me who had just graduated. That is when I decided to be independent. Incidentally, some of my other friends were also unhappy with what they were doing and we started our small shop. We sell paintings, innovative wind chimes, candle holders, mirrors, bags etc,” says Vinay.

“It is a small set-up but we are happy and extremely satisfied. That is what inspires us to think out of the box,” he sums up.